The U.S. military has developed and employed unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in various operations since the late 1990s. Feedback from the UAV operating station is vital for the pilot to control the UAV. The current predator UAV control setup has a monitor that shows the pilot a map and another monitor that displays a nose camera view combined with a heads-up display (HUD). Since operators control the UAV from a ground control station that is remote from the actual aircraft, the pilot is not provided with the normal auditory, vestibular, and proprioceptive feedback they would receive in the actual aircraft. Because of the remote operation of the UAV, they are also not immune to mishaps. In fact, the landing task alone contributes up to 22% of all UAV mishaps. The purpose of this study is to assess the potential for a vibrotactile vest to provide tactile feedback to UAV pilots while landing. This study used two groups of participants. The first group used the UAV simulator as it is currently employed with no tactile vest. The second group used the UAV simulator while also using the tactile vest. We examined the learning performance of each group by measuring the number of trials it takes to obtain a passing landing score for the initial condition each participant is assigned. After obtaining a passing score, the participant switched to the other condition (vest or no vest) and completed an additional three trials. We then used the root mean square (RMS) error from an optimal flight path to analyze the impact of initial training with and without the tactile vest. This study included 30 participants with 15 participants assigned to each group. Participants were drawn from United States Air Force Academy cadets in an upper-division leadership class. All tests were performed on a UAV synthetic task environment (STE) simulator located in the Behavioral Sciences and Leadership Laboratory. The findings showed that the vibrotactile vest can help UAV pilots more accurately perform a landing.
Effect of Tactile Feedback on Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Landings
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